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Study Says 20% Wind Energy Integration Possible, But... By SGN Staff Jan 20, 2010 - 12:29:47 PM
Just a few short years ago, it was considered a fairly fanciful notion that 5% of the U.S. electricity supply could come from wind. Now we're talking about 20%. While a DOE study says it's possible, the study focused on technical, operational and economic issues. Immense investments in transmission lines to carry wind energy from the far-flung places where it's produced to where it's needed are going to require a concerted planning effort involving everyone with a stake in the country's energy future. Interesting that just today a group of government and industry heavyweights proposed a National Infrastructure Bank.
A wide-ranging study by the DOE's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) says yes, it is possible to have 20% of the country's electricity come from wind by 2024. It also says no, it won't be cheap — or easy. The big "if" is transmission.
The Eastern Wind Integration and Transmission Study, the largest of its kind to date, focused on the bulk of utilities in the Eastern Interconnection system that covers basically the eastern two thirds of the country.
The study found: "There are no fundamental technical barriers to the integration of 20% wind energy into the electrical system, but transmission planning and system operation policy and market development need to continue to evolve in order for these penetration levels to be achieved."
Right now about 4% of the area's electricity comes from wind.
But the study also says that without additional transmission, the future for additional wind transmission isn't terribly bright. Without more capacity, there's no way to send ever-increasing amounts of power from remote wind farms to the population centers where it's needed.
David Corbus, senior NREL engineer, said, " Because building transmission capacity takes much longer than installing wind plants, there is a sense of urgency to studying transmission."
Corbus added that the lack of capacity has already begun to limit the growth of wind power in some locations.
A separate Charles River Associates study done for the Southwest Wind Power Pool's Wind Integration Task Force essentially said the same thing. That study noted that it is critical to coordinate transmission expansion growth with building infrastructure to accommodate wind energy generation.
From the source ...
· DOE
· Electric Light and Power article
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